In 2001, I bought a bunch of CDs on Fence, one of which was King Creosote's 12 O’Clock on the Dot. I was 18 and had just started my degree.
I can vividly remember listening to the album on the little stereo in our studio after my classmates had gone home. I was working in my sketchbook and it was raining outside.
For whatever reason, All the 3s caught my ear. It's a short, funny song about ageing, specifically about turning 33. I've uploaded an extract here:
33 seemed forever away. 2001 to 2016. 15 years. No matter how you square it, 15 years is a big chunk of life. My 20s hadn't started yet - in 15 years they'd be done and dusted. At 18, I'd barely had a drink. I'd barely had a girlfriend. 15 years was definitely forever away.
The idea stuck in my head and I've thought about All the 3s on every birthday since.
Yesterday I turned 33.
Left: me at 18 (I think). Right: me today, at 33.
What's happened in 15 years? Things: I graduated. I went to the pub. My 20s. I got married. I bought a flat. All these things feel like they happened yesterday. 15 years is no time at all.
I still feel exactly the same. I still own 12 O’Clock on the Dot. I still work in my sketchbook. It's raining outside.
I've got all my hair and I've got all my teeth (going by Facebook, that puts me ahead of some of my schoolmates). I'm carrying about 10lbs more than I should be. Here's a time-lapse of me trying to sort that out:
I imagine I'll continue to think about All the 3s every July. My 33rd birthday'll be further behind me each year and, instead of being some beacon of age, it'll be a memory of my youth (albeit one that I'll swear just happened).
15 years only feels like forever when you look this-a-way. When you look that-a-way, it's yesterday.